Once upon a time, I was obsessed with any and all Japanese brand makeup/skincare products and subsequently hauled them all, until I decided to go down the natural route and realised a lot of the brands I used contained parabens, mineral oils and a whole bunch of synthetic ingredients.
While I may tolerate some synethetic ingredients in small amounts for an outstanding product, parabens for me is a big no no - I've since thrown out a lot of products containing the offending ingredient.
As I generally prefer Japanese base products (why does SUQQU have to contain parabens??) I started searching for natural Japanese makeup brands. Aided by good old Google Translate, I eventually stumbled upon Naturaglace - their products contain 100% natural ingredients and are free from parabens, mineral oils, synethetic fragrances, etc, yay!
Naturaglace's official site is in Japanese, though there are a lot of pictures to help you find what you're looking for. They currently have a decent selection of base + point makeup.
A few photos from the Naturaglace brochure I received with one of my orders:
I like to get Naturaglace items from their Rakuten store via FromJapan - FJ periodically runs a 10% off Rakuten items promo, so I always take the opportunity to stock up or try out new items.
Brief introduction over, on to the reviews!
Naturaglace Foundation Puree SPF 20 PA++
Available in 3 shades - YE1, YE2 & YE3. I initially took a wild guess and went for YE1 which is the lightest shade.
It provides SPF 25 with some UVA/UVB protection; foundations with sun protection always get bonus points from me even though I'd usually use a separate sun block.
Despite being "YE" which one would assume to be yellow toned, it's more of a peachy shade which luckily, matches my skin almost perfectly. It gives dewy brightening effect without making me look like a ghost, and evens out my complexion making it look fresh & even.
As the coverage is so light, it's pretty rubbish at covering imperfections. Doesn't really bother me though, since I've always favoured light to medium coverage foundations - I prefer to spot conceal where needed rather than plaster my entire face with heavy foundation.
Swatch:
Its consistency is somewhere between an average runny liquid foundation and a cream foundation. Easily spread and doesn't clog up my pores. One to two pumps is enough to cover the entire face; I like to dab it around before blending.
The only downside is that it feels ever so slightly sticky immediately after application, but fixes itself after a few minutes, or you can use a finishing powder to get rid of this issue.
A foundation that's long lasting, evens out my skin tone, is natural & paraben free, with beautiful consistency, plus makes my skin look even and dewy - I really couldn't ask for more (move over SUQQU!) At ¥3390 for 20ml it's also more reasonably priced than SUQQU foundations.
Naturaglace Make Up Cream SPF30 PA++
This is a very slightly tinted, almost transparent, all-in-one cream that's only available in one shade. Suitable for pretty much all skin tones, it can be worn either on its own, or as a primer under foundation depending on the desired finish.
I generally prefer to wear it alone and while it's not enough to cover up any imperfections, it makes my skin appear just that little bit more radiant, even toned, and my pores a tiny bit smaller, so it looks like I've been blessed with great skin (if only) as opposed to good makeup.
When worn under foundation, it provides additional moisture for the skin as well as a little extra coverage.
Apparently, this Make Up Cream is so popular in Japan that it's won Monde Selection Gold Awards (for high quality products) for three years running!
I've been using Naturaglace's Foundation Puree and Make Up Cream almost exclusively for the past two years as I simply haven't found better alternatives.
Retails at ¥2940 for 25ml
Naturaglace Honey Rouge
I picked this lip gloss in PK2, which is a natural looking nude pink. Honestly, I'm on the fence about this shade because I generally don't go for nude pinks, but it feels moisturising and comfortable enough on the lips that I'm happy to continue using it.
It has super fine shimmer that's not at all obvious from a distance. While the colour is pretty, it's not pink enough for me and doesn't really show up on my lips either.
Like the Hourglass Extreme Sheen High Shine Lip Gloss, it comes with a flat spongy applicator that I really like. Unfortunately, it's not as long lasting as Hourglass, which also narrowly trumps it in comfort and longevity.
Retails at ¥2940 - I really don't think I'm impressed enough to try this in a different shade...
Naturaglace Lip Gelee
Available in PK1 and PK2 - on the official site PK1 looks like a shimmery baby pink and PK2 is a pale peach shade, naturally I chose the former.
Although this gloss has extremely fine pink shimmer particles (shown in swatch below), on the lips it looks like a clear lip gloss. It seems that Naturaglace make up products are on the sheer side.
Quite moisturising and not too sticky, it looks rather pretty when layered on top of a more pigmented lip gloss. Otherwise for ¥1890, you'd be better off purchasing a cheaper clear gloss because the difference is so subtle.
The size doesn't seem to be written anywhere, but it's smaller than a 10ml Juicy Tubes, I'd guess maybe around 8ml.
Naturaglace Eyebrow Chocolat
A more recent addition to my stash, this Eyebrow Chocolat is a refillable double ended eyebrow pencil with a brush attachment. It's comes in BR1 Brown and BR2 Light Brown - since I have dark hair, I went for BR1.
Though it doesn't appear to hold much actual product, the twist mechanism means nothing gets wasted unlike sharpening a regular brow pencil. The brush on the other end is handy for taming unruly brows.
While nice to have, this Eyebrow Chocolat isn't an essential item in my opinion. But as I already have it, once I run out I might as well get a refill.
Swatch:
Retails at ¥2940 and the refill on its own is ¥1890.
Naturaglace Eyeliner Creme Chocolat
I'm very picky when it comes to eyeliner; I'm not a fan of harsh, crisp eye lines and find most liners too harsh. This liner is creamy soft, doesn't drag the skin around my eyes and stays put for several hours without needing an eyelid primer. Perfect!
Again I find the twist mechanism brilliant, since I dislike having to sharpen eye pencils which always leaves debris flying everywhere.
The spongy tip on the other end is convenient for smudging the liner to soften it or for a smoky look.
Like the Eyebrow Chocolat, I don't think this would qualify as a must have for most people. However, given how picky I am and how convenient it is, it's highly likely I'll purchase a refill.
The Eyeliner Creme Chocolat and its refill are priced the same as the Eyebrow Chocolat (above).
All in all I'm a huge fan of Naturaglace! As far as prices go, you don't get a lot of product for your $ - it seems that Naturaglace isn't that generous with the amount of product you get That said, the quality is most definitely there. I'd be happy to keep buying the base products as well as continue to expand my current growing collection.
There are a few more Naturaglace products I'll be reviewing, which will follow shortly (promise!)
Plus... I'm expecting my absolute biggest ever FromJapan package (containing 1 item, 4.5kgs) next week - I'll be sure to post as soon as that arrives too!
